Dog Laundering

The following letter is reprinted by permission of the author¹ and by permission of Animal People,² where it first appeared.

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To the Editors of Animal People,

I believe animal shelters have a moral and legal duty to investigate, record and report about the behavior of every dog put up for adoption.  I have created materials for them to do it, including written policies and procedures, as well as forms.  The kit is called Avoiding Liability When You Train, Shelter or Adopt Out a Dog,  available via <www.dogbitelaw.com>.

I coined the term “dog laundering” to describe the intentional breach of an animal shelter’s duties that takes place when a vicious dog is transferred from one group to another for the purpose of disguising its history and placing it in an unsuspecting new home.  I believe that such conduct on the part of the groups is both a tort and a crime.  Just as bad,  it is harmful to the honest adoption/shelter groups and to good dogs who need homes,  because as the public becomes aware of the practice of dog laundering,  people will return to the pet stores.

Kenneth M. Phillips
Attorney at Law
www.dogbitelaw.com
kphillips {@] dogbitelaw dot com

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Notes:
¹ Attorney Kenneth M. Phillips, the author of Dog Bite Law, dogbitelaw.com
² Animal People, October 2013, p6 (Web page no longer available)

Statistics:
Statistics quoted on SRUV are from the nation's authoritative source for current dog attack statistics, the 30+ year, continuously updated Dog attack deaths and maimings, U.S. & Canada.
View or download the current PDF

2014 Year-end report of dog attacks
   Animals 24-7; January 3, 2015
32 years of logging fatal & disfiguring dog attacks
   Animals 24-7; September 27, 2014
How many other animals did pit bulls kill in 2014?
   Animals 24-7; January 27, 2015

This page may also include information from Dogsbite &Fatal Pit Bull Attacks.

Google News: Today's pit bull attacks

2014 Dog Bite Related Fatalities on Daxton's Friends
Index of canine fatalities on Daxton's Friends

Definitions:
SRUV uses the definition of "pit bull" as found in the Omaha Municipal Code Section 6-163. As pit bulls are increasingly crossed with exotic mastiffs, Catahoula Leopard Dogs and other breeds, the vernacular definition of "pit bull" must be made even more inclusive.

Sources cited by news media sometimes refer to "Animal Advocates" or sometimes "Experts." In many cases these words are used to refer to single-purpose pit bull advocates who have never advocated for any other breeds or species of animals. Media would be more accurate to refer to these pit bull advocates as advocates of fighting breeds.

Similarly, in many cases pit bull advocates refer to themselves as "dog lovers" or "canine advocates" and media often accepts this usage. The majority of these pit bull advocates are single-purpose advocates of fighting breeds.

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